Epidemiological and clinical aspects of paediatric HIV infections in Albert-Royer Paediatric hospital (Dakar, Senegal)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection prevalence rate is estimated at 1.4% in Senegal, and about 3,000 children could be infected. HIV positive children are followed up since 2000 in Albert Royer Hospital (Dakar, Senegal). Objectives. - To describe clinical and epidemiological aspects of HIV paediatric infection, and to evaluate the implementation of high active antiretroviral therapy in HIV positive children in our country. Population and methods. - Over a period of three years, the medical reports of 98 infected patients have been collected, 96% with HIV I infection. Results. - Most of the patients had a maternally transmitted HIV infection (99%). At their enrolment, the median age was 60 months; malnutrition (79%), persistent lymphadenopathy (65%) and skin lesions (64%) were the common clinical manifestations. Thirty-nine percent of the patients were in class C (CDC) and 81% had CD4 cell count <= 25%. Median viral load were 421,852 copies/ml at presentation. Seven infants had a rapid progressive disease with encephalopathy. Thirty-six patients received high active antiretroviral therapy with high observance and good tolerance. Conclusion. - This study allowed to define clinical and biological profile of paediatric HIV infection in our country and to update the implementation of high active antiretroviral therapy. (c) 2005 Publie par Elsevier SAS.